How to defeat depression? Sad, it’s time!

The everyday everyday environment in which a modern person lives, in itself, has the potential that stress and nervous disorders daily attack the human brain. This is feelings for any reason, and stressful situations at work, and discord in the family, with a loved one, and excessive processing at the computer, and poor-quality third-rate films on TV …

You can list endlessly. But, as long as you do not keep this list, stress in itself will not go anywhere. And in the future, it can generally develop into a serious mental disorder.

If you have already managed to get a charge of negative emotions at work, children were upset by your school grades, your loved one does not understand at home, in general, you have accumulated negativity in full, follow the rules outlined below. These helpful tips will help relieve stress a bit and improve your well-being.     

In a stressful state, basically, a person feels broken, lonely, cornered. Everything gets on the nerves, depresses and annoys. Let’s formulate a few simple rules that should be followed in a stressful state. 

First , never stay in the dark. Even the night lamp above the bed will not improve your condition the way a chandelier on the ceiling does. The brighter the light and the more rooms in the apartment are lit, the better you will feel.

Secondly , staying at home yourself, do not watch scary and depressing films. This is an additional negative burden on your brain.

Thirdly , if you are single, talk more on the phone, invite friends and relatives. If you close yourself in four walls and in yourself, this will only aggravate the situation and your depression can become very aggressive. The best communication for you can be small children – so funny, easy and joyful. 

Plan 30 minutes of outdoor walks every day. It should be crowded places, for example, parks, busy streets, shops, and, of course, walks should take place only during daylight hours. Darkness exacerbates …

If you have the opportunity not to go to work (if your depression is related to the workplace), then it is better to take this opportunity. Even if processing saves you from stress, you should not abuse it anyway. This will help only for a certain period, but not forever. And in the future, it can only aggravate your condition, for example, problems at home, plus one more thing: I got this job … Here you already have two problems.

Also, do not look into the glass. This is no secret to anyone, and explanations are probably not required. In addition , it is harmful to health and you can do a lot of bad things, especially in a depressed state.   

Have you been cleaning the house for a long time? Maybe it’s time to do this? Sometimes an elementary guidance of cleanliness can bring satisfaction and even enjoy the result of your actions; and it turns out that not everything in the world is as bad as you imagined. Give it a try!

Do you know that bright warm colors accelerate the way out of depression? Buy yellow fruits or vegetables. This color is especially pleasing to the eye, and it will also heal your soul. You can put the zucchini on the bedside table beside you. Today it is a talisman for you. And eat it tomorrow. The benefits are twofold, right?  

Feel free to contact your friends for help. They will always help you cheer up. Asking friends for help is not shameful. It is better to seem weak than to turn out to be moronic without coping with depression. Just do not invite those who can come with a bottle of something!

Sign up for the pool. Water relieves stress, tone the muscles, allows you to “stretch” the lungs. There is no possibility – take a shower, bath, wash more often. Water washes away bad energy. 

Listen to music that calms: Enigma, Eru, some mantras – this puts the brains in order. If you have a desire to circle, somehow move to this music, use this opportunity. Music is a great source of strength for mind and body! 

Invite a massage therapist. Make your body, and therefore the soul, pleasant. This will relieve stress and reduce depression.

In autumn , as in winter, nature freezes and we slow down with it. But all this oppression can and should be avoided. Indulge in a quiet, dormant park, moving piles of yellow leaves, listening to your favorite music on headphones, spend an extra evening with relatives, friends and relatives. And you will certainly feel relieved, calmed, satisfied with life …  

About depression

Today, antidepressants are the most commonly prescribed drugs. For people with clinical depression, they are like morphine for a cancer patient. Of the 10 adults, one takes antidepressants, without even thinking about the consequences. Most of them do not suffer from major depression. They complain of slight anxiety, vague malaise, dissatisfaction, or “… I just don’t like everything …”

The doctor is tempted. New generation antidepressants (selective inhibitors) are non-addictive and have low side effects. When prescribing them, doctors can feel “calm.” In fact, for most patients, such drugs are no more than an expensive placebo. The conclusion suggests itself: antidepressants do not heal, they only relieve symptoms. And this is even worse, because depression continues to develop, but is already hidden.

There are also such forms of psychotherapy that are aimed at the cause of depression, and not at relieving symptoms. they help to focus on ideas about yourself, about the world around you and about your future. This leads to the fact that a new model of behavior is being developed. A person is able to see new perspectives of his life, while not destroying his past, but relying on it. The past abundantly contains painful memories, but they are the ones that are a unique experience.

Such work does not give instant results. It takes time to learn not to distort reality, to learn to love yourself (here we are not talking about narcissism, I’m talking about a healthy attitude to oneself), to be ready for communication. Unfortunately, not everyone is ready to boldly and honestly look inside themselves. Many become scared to look at their errors or to realize their misunderstanding. It is much more convenient and easier to take a pill. But still , over time, it became clear that there is no pill that could make a person happy.  

Everyone has a bitter life experience. Someone more, someone less. This kind of experience begins in childhood and gains the power that forms patterns of behavior. The child is not able to fully understand and correctly interpret such an experience. So we begin to separate feelings into “good” and “bad”. Situations in which “bad experiences” can occur, we avoid, and strive for the opposite. A person is filled with all kinds of beliefs such as: I’m bad, I’m unlucky, or I’m worthless. Such beliefs limit life, reduce it to banal actions and reactions.  

Sometimes even light criticism is enough for a child to injure his psyche. A rude word or a shout, all these so-called microtraumas of the psyche are flying into a common piggy bank. Unfortunately, for many parents, criticism and prohibitions are the only tools for raising their children. They have a huge impact on the formation of behavior. Adults need to remember that there are those around whom they have influence. Who knows, maybe children help us understand what “awareness of life” means?

How to deal with autumn depression?

Summer is over, it is getting colder, the first golden leaves begin to appear on birches, and marvelous lead clouds begin to appear in the sky , quickly gathering in blank cover clouds and starting a series of autumn rains. 

Autumn rains are a separate story that can be told endlessly. The first autumn rains are still similar to summer ones: they pretend to be showers, wash off dust and dirt from city greenery, release the sun into the sky (frolic at last) – in general, they brazenly deceive, making them believe that there is still an unused piece of summer.  

But then the clouds cease to disappear from the sky, the sky itself literally falls on the tops of the trees, and dull, prolonged rains begin, then drizzling, now intensifying almost to a downpour, then again reducing the intensity to a dull gray drizzle. The leaves begin to turn yellow under these rains, the grass turns brown, and soon the wipers will increase their work, and in the city courtyards it will draw a sweetish smell of burning leaves.

In short, it’s time for depression. She creeps around the corner, disguising herself as the streams of the first autumn rains, hiding in shortened days, suddenly attacking from the burning grass …

And so, before you look around, and nothing hurts you, and in general everything is in order in life, but you are sitting in a deaf depressed person to the ears. And it seems to you that the wind does not deliver at all the aroma of burning autumn leaves, but others, which smell like less refined, suggesting a public toilet.

Having reached this marvelous state, there are two ways to go:

  • huddle in a corner, curl up in a ball, climb under a blanket (maybe two) and viciously hiss at everyone who is trying to approach a distance of less than two to three meters;
  • fight against the vile autumn depression and defeat it, and let it rain, and the wipers fall autumn leaves in large heaps, but this also has its own charm, which can be considered by defeating depression.

To get out of depression, you first need to remember: you must not give in to the desire to hide in a corner and wait out bad times there. On the contrary – in the fall walks will have the most beneficial effect, especially if it is walks in a pleasant company. Of course, when it rains, you don’t especially take a walk, but in the end, why did the umbrellas invent? And then, you can always walk to a museum, theater, cafe.    

By the way, if you had a chance to go to the cafe and there you decided to end the walk, then remember: you do not need to drink anything alcoholic, this only exacerbates the depressive state. It is better to order a large portion of ice cream with chocolate, and if this joy is still decorated with some attractive fruit – it’s really great.  

Very good if you can change the direction of thoughts. Typically, with depression, everything causes, if not disgust, then boredom and depression. Well, the autumn rains are just champions for spoiling the mood. Nevertheless, they have their own charm. If you are not carried away by the idea of ​​mushrooms that are growing right now in large numbers in the nearest forest under this very rain, then you can think of the summer heat, so exhausting, exhausting, to headache, to dizziness, which is washed off by this rain.

And in general, have you ever noticed how beautiful a city is being watered by rain? Discreet, refined beauty, accessible only to true connoisseurs of beauty. But you are the very true connoisseur to whom this is available! 

A great helper in the fight against depression is sports. No need to exhaust yourself on sports equipment and simulators, a fairly lightweight option. For example, visit the pool. At the same time, you can brag about the wonderful summer tan. Well, if you do not have a tan, then you can boast of an aristocratic whiteness of the skin. Figure. New swimsuit. Fashionable swimming trunks. Swimming style, finally.

Women with depression are especially recommended to visit the hairdresser, as well as unobtrusive shopping.

It is advisable not only to consider beautiful things, but also to purchase something for yourself. And even better – if there ’s a use right away for the purchase (for example, go to visit your best friend and see how she enters into healthy envy).  

It is very important for depression to eat properly in the fall . The fact is that there are products that can help in the fight against this disease, and their use not only reduces the intensity of depression, but also improves overall health.   

Depression experts especially recommend the following foods for eating:

  • chocolate and cocoa;
  • green tea;
  • fish, shrimp;
  • sea ​​kale;
  • nuts and seeds;
  • bananas
  • oatmeal;
  • legumes;
  • poultry meat (optimally – chicken) and eggs; 
  • bright vegetables and fruits (red, orange – tomatoes, carrots, oranges and so on). 

So, starting the day with a pleasant walk and ending with a cup of cocoa with a little bite of chocolate, you can deal with any depression, including autumn. And before you have time to look around, the autumn slush will pass, replaced by pure white snow, and along with the slush will go into oblivion and depression, jammed with nuts and bananas, escorted by the shrimp crunch.

How do dreams relieve depression?

Rosalind Cartwright, head of the Sleep Disorders Center, is confident that dreams are mood correctors that process negative emotions. That is why when we wake up, our mood is better than when we go to sleep. But if at night something went wrong, the mood in the morning is nowhere worse. This situation is common for people with depression. 

Dreams help us regulate emotional life and even get rid of depression. How exactly? This is what the book “The Brain in a Dream” tells.

Dreams and mood

A study of those who went through a marriage collapse demonstrates that the dream model of those who can cope with the consequences of divorce and move on is significantly different from the dream model of those who are depressed.

Cartwright dealt with this problem in the early 1960s – then she, who had just survived a divorce, set up her first laboratory: “I was depressed, could not sleep normally and thought: why not use insomnia to good use?”  

People with depression tend to constantly chew on bitter thoughts throughout the day. At night, they also play negative images of the past, thereby exacerbating the anxiety or fear that originally included the dream mechanism. And it is not surprising that they wake up in an even more depressed state.

Antidepressant Dreams

Long-term studies of the content of dreams have shown that negative emotions dominate in dreams. In 1991, scientists found that in reality people are more likely than in a dream to experience positive emotions. And vice versa: a sense of fear arises in dreams many times more often than during wakefulness. In general, 2/3 of the emotions that arise in dreams are negative. 

A study conducted in 1996 in a Swiss sleep laboratory suggests that negative emotions appear in dreams twice as often as positive ones, among these negative feelings the most typical are anger, fear and depression, tension. This predominance of negative emotions led Cartwright to suggest that during the REM phase, when we see the most complex, vivid dreams, the integration of emotional experiences occurs.

A cocktail of negative and positive emotions can be in proportion from 60/40 for someone who is in good emotional shape and whose day, as they say, went well, to 95/5 for someone who has faced many problems. These are the emotions that we have to process overnight to meet a new day with renewed vigor.

Depression, go away!

For its recent study, Cartwright recruited subjects who survived their first divorce. Subjects occasionally spent nights in the laboratory. They talked about their mood, going to bed, talked about the mood in which they woke up in the morning. They also regularly reported to Cartwright on how their family problems were resolved and how their general emotional state changed.

Final tests showed that 9 out of 12 people finally got rid of divorce-related symptoms of depression. 52% of those who recovered from depression talked about dreams that featured their previous spouses or scenes from married life; Of those whom depression still tormented (there were three), only 24% spoke of such dreams. 

It is noteworthy that those who recovered recalled their dreams twice as often as those who were still depressed. So, the ability to remember a dream also has a therapeutic effect.

Emotional Trigger

“Freud considered the subconscious mind to be something like a cesspool: the incompletely expressed emotions are kept in it in a depressed state, and the psychotherapist’s task is to release these toxic emotions and thereby free the person, ” says Joe Griffin, who has been studying the REM phase for more than ten years and the evolution of dreams. “ But research has clearly demonstrated that dreams do this every night.” In other words, nature invented the emotional trigger tank long before Freud    

Skeptics doubt: how can these brain-played night dramas help if we forget them right away? But scientists believe that the main thing is the creation and restructuring of connections in neural networks, the physiological process itself, which in some cases strengthens old memories, in others – builds new associations. So he weaves new experiences into our previous experience, updating the model of ourselves and the world around us.   

Such a nightly readjustment of connections corresponds to theories of the role of dreams in evolution: according to these theories, the brain integrates information important for survival during sleep. This happens whether we remember dreams or not.

Both correct psychotherapy and dreaming have the same effect: they allow in a safe environment to create connections between an alarming event and previous experience. As soon as they are established, the emotions become not so sharp and the trauma gradually dissolves in the patient’s life.

How to deal with post-holiday depression?

Holidays someday end, workdays come , and with them, high spirits are replaced by depression. What to do when the depression is prolonged? At the same time, it is time to get involved in the work process, and there are children, he or she, who also need to be given attention.   

You can not divide your own life into separate periods. Many people think that everyday life is a routine that needs to be overcome faster. Holidays are perceived as a short-term reward, which is given for long patience. The work process after the holidays feels like a personal tragedy. At the same time, insomnia begins to torment some, pressure surges occur in others, and gastrointestinal upset is observed in others.    

However, everyone has symptoms of depression. In order to prevent the negative development of the situation and the deterioration of the emotional state, it is necessary to stop dividing life into “before” and “after” holidays. It is important to remember that life is a continuous cycle, and every day you live will not return.     

Communication. After the holidays, you need to try not to be alone, alone with gloomy thoughts. The right decision is to communicate with friends and loved ones. They share their secret dreams, overcome difficulties together. After all, it is easier to overcome depression when there are understanding people nearby who you can trust, talk heart to heart. 

Walks in the open air. During an unhurried walk, the work of the heart muscle and vascular system improves, hormones of happiness are secreted. Therefore, it is very important to find at least 15-20 minutes for a short walk in the park area or city streets. You should not sit in the apartment and look longingly from the window at people who are doing something, rushing somewhere.  

Moreover, not so often you can see people who do not have a minute of free time for a walk. Most just too lazy to change something in the usual way of life. 

Down with reproaches and self-flagellation! If you didn’t manage to start a new life from Monday , do workouts or lose weight, you should not reproach yourself that the plans remained only on paper or in thoughts. Feeling guilty will only aggravate the situation. Therefore, we must take a feasible load and properly distribute our own capabilities. Otherwise, you will have to start working in a depressed state, not only morally, but also mentally.  

Often there is even physical exhaustion, which is a consequence of prolonged depression. If you do not stop in time, a psychological disorder may occur, which will require contacting a specialist.

Post-holiday depression can be cured, you just need to change your mindset. This will help meditation, special exercises for relaxation, the ability to rejoice and wonder at the pleasant little things that often occur in human life. Understand for yourself: a holiday can not be every weekday. And for the next holiday to be as bright, it will take time, which must be devoted not only to work, but also to your loved ones.   

Depressive conditions. Organic Depression

According to statistics, in recent years the number of depressed patients has increased significantly. This phenomenon is associated with profound changes in modern life (acceleration, mechanization, migration of large groups of people, etc.) K. Kirov notes that experienced clinicians based on comparative studies over the past 10 years have come to the conclusion that melancholic syndromes have become not only meet more often, but significant changes have occurred in their structure. Thus, melancholic delirium with cyclophrenia loses its religious-irrational character and is replaced by the ideas of self-accusation. The classical picture of the clinic of melancholy has changed, a lot of atypical, hidden (disguised) outpatient forms have appeared. In-depth clinical observations have enriched the classification of depressive states with new forms and concepts, familiarization with which is important not only from a diagnostic point of view, but also for the correct therapeutic approach. The treatment plan for depressive diseases is based on the same principles as for schizophrenia, taking into account the characteristics of the leading (targeted) syndrome and nosological affiliation of the disease. The clinical characteristics of the leading psychotic syndrome orient the therapist in the correct choice of the most effective drug. The primary task facing the doctor is to make the correct etiological diagnosis, that is, to determine whether the depression is endogenous, organic or reactive. The etiological diagnosis determines the choice of the main type of treatment – pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, general somatic therapy, etc. We believe that the classification of depressive conditions Kielholz, based mainly on the provisions of Selbach and Hippius, is very useful for the theoretical justification of the pharmacotherapy of depression. Organic Depression. As you know, Schneider and Weitbrecht believe that the basis of all exogenous, organic and symptomatic depressions is the physical condition of the body. However, when considering the problems of treating these diseases according to Kielholz, the group of organic depressions should include those that are determined by structural changes in the brain, and symptomatic depressions – psychotic patterns that arise as a syndrome associated with extracerebral diseases. Organic depressions include depressive syndromes in senile dementia, atherosclerosis, progressive paralysis, epilepsy, oligophrenia, and others. From a clinical point of view, in addition to differences in the strength and nature of the picture of depression, there is an organic psychosyndrome according to Bleuler: memory impairment, orientation disorder, impaired thinking tendency to confabulation, affective symptoms, etc. Delirium is most often nihilistic in nature. Symptomatic depression. As already mentioned, they are syndromes associated with certain extracerebral diseases or effects. These include depressive states in various diseases of an infectious, hemodynamic, endocrine, toxic nature, etc.

Severe postpartum depression. Manifestations of severe postpartum depression

Patient O., 23 years old, working. She entered the psychiatric ward of the Botkin Hospital on 28 / VII 1962. My father suffers from chronic alcoholism. Childhood passed in difficult conditions. Grew normally. She graduated only 5 classes, studied mediocre. By nature, soft, good-natured, sociable. Menses from 15 years. Pregnancy and childbirth first. Pregnancy proceeded easily 14 / VII 1962. normal birth. The child (boy) was very happy. The first days after the birth I felt satisfactory, but I did not sleep well. On the 8th day after the birth, the mood decreased, my throat ached, and the temperature was 37.8 °. At home, she tried to do household work, but “everything fell out of her hands”. She asked her husband for forgiveness, called herself a sinner, and said that she had “lived with other men” before her marriage, although this was not true. Tried to hang herself. Upon admission to the psychiatric ward there is a pronounced strangulation groove on the neck. The physique of the patient is closer to the picnic. The pharynx is slightly hyperemic. Temperature 37.2 °. Heart sounds are clear. Blood pressure 120/80 mm RT. Art. The pulse is 98 beats per minute, rhythmic. Vesicular respiration in the lungs According to the conclusion of the gynecologist, the condition of the genital organs corresponds to the normal course of the postpartum period. Blood test: HB 13.4 g%, l. 8200, e. 1%, p. 4%, s. 65%, lymph. 21% mon 9%; ROE 27 mm per hour. Traces of protein were found in the analysis of urine, a small number of white blood cells. The patient is extremely stressed, asks if the child is alive, believes that he is already dead. It is not oriented in time, “everything is dead all around”; “I don’t understand where I am.” She said that she “wanted to strangle her, because because of me all the dead”, “around the dead.” Expresses the expressed delirium of guilt and sinfulness: “I am dirty, worthless, killed a child”, “Strangled my soul and child.” It pinches itself and declares that it does not feel. However, according to relatives, it did not show aggression to the newborn. Stubbornly insists that he will hang himself anyway, “they will be taken to all the shops of the factory for the murder of a child as a sinner,” where the patient worked. He hears dogs barking, “voices” predict her inevitable death and “eternal torment”. She sat in the department, frozen in one position, on her face an expression of deep sorrow. It is difficult to feed, taking medications irregularly. At times, with the influx of “condemning voices,” it begins to rush about, asking to bring “at least a dead child, whom I have destroyed.” Refuses to go to bed, lying on the floor. This condition lasted for a week. The patient received parenteral aminazine 200 mg per day, melipramine 100 mg orally. From 2 / VIII, improvement began, it became calmer, slept, there was no longing, the “voices” stopped. The final recovery came only by 19 / VIII, before that the condition was unstable, periodically there were short episodes of dreary mood. According to the medical history, over the next years he is practically healthy, he is raising a child, working, fulfilling the production plan by 120-140%. Relations with her husband are good. Complaints about the state of health does not express. In this case, any analogies with the reactive state can be immediately refuted. Mild sore throat began in the patient already after the occurrence of insomnia and mood disturbance. After a several days initial period of insomnia and a dreary mood, ideas of self-accusation and sinfulness, suicidal tendencies appeared. Upon admission to the hospital, the patient had a stage of more severe disintegration of his mental life, accompanied by derealization (“everything died around”) and depersonalization. The abundance of hallucinations also indicated a certain violation of consciousness. In time, the patient was disoriented. A condition close to a depressive stupor alternated with agitation, and statements with “eternal torment” and immortality resembled Kotar syndrome. The course of psychosis was undulating in nature, which also indicated the predominance of diencephalic disorders. Despite the polymorphism of symptoms, depression remained the leading and most constant syndrome. Sometimes the wave-like flow createdthe impression that all psychosis consists of several separate phases. The main background, the most persistent and persistent syndrome was depression, accompanied by typical feelings of inferiority. Weighting, generalization of psychosis led to the appearance of depersonalization, accompanied by an already more pronounced violation of consciousness. Further deepening and generalization of the pathological process caused a picture of oneiric catatonia. In the presence of somatic disorders, onyroid symptoms passed into the picture of catatonic amentia, however, it cannot be ruled out that the fever was due to diencephalic disorders. Thus, the unity of psychopathological symptoms was clearly expressed; All features and dynamics from depression to amentia depended on the degree and depth of disintegration of the central nervous system. This indicates that postpartum depression is not a special, isolated form of the “group” of postpartum psychoses, but is only one option for a single postpartum psychosis. Not only for depression, but also for other variants of postpartum psychoses, the delusional themes of “guilt”, alienation, and hostility to the child and husband are characteristic. Along with a feeling of hostility to the husband, patients often express ideas of jealousy, sometimes reaching the point of delirium. The cessation of psychosis also went through a phase of depression, which was the main background of psychosis, in which, under the influence of the deepening of the disease state, other disorders that were different from depression, but closely related to it, arose.

Nervousness. Anxiety. Depression. Neurology of emotions

Complaints of nervousness, anxiety, and depression, along with fatigue and weakness, are common among both inpatients and outpatients. Almost every person experienced these symptoms to one degree or another when faced with a dangerous situation, a difficult task or a personal problem. In this case, such symptoms should be considered as a natural and transient reaction to the vicissitudes of fate. Medical attention is needed when these symptoms occur for no reason or are overly pronounced and too long. These symptoms often occur at certain age periods. Children rarely go through adolescence without any problems, since at this time they try to free themselves from parental care, achieve success in school, work and in relationships with the opposite sex. Menstruation is usually accompanied by internal stress and mood swings, which is defined as “premenstrual syndrome.” In the postpartum period, a young mother usually experiences anxiety and depression (“postpartum depression”), possibly due to hyperprolactinemia. Menopause is the next life stage that threatens emotional stability. The moodiness and irritability of women at this age has long been known. Even in the mildest form, anxiety and depression manifest themselves in numerous behavioral changes. More often, a headache begins to disturb, sleep is disturbed. Often there is a deterioration in mood, periods of longing, tearfulness, bouts of anger or temper, fatigue without a clear connection with stress and rest, episodes of sweating, trembling, lightheadedness and palpitations. The combination of autonomic disturbances with acute bouts of sensation of suffocation, horror and impending death constitute the basis of a panic attack. Vegetative disorders can occur with hyperthyroidism and hyperadrenocorticism, and, of course, with caffeine abuse. All these symptoms may seem trivial, but require examination of the patient, especially if they are constant and cause his internal tension. Many of these symptoms are not a reaction to the disease, therefore, require explanation and adequate examination. More often, a chronic anxiety neurotic disorder is established as the cause, sometimes depression is hidden behind these symptoms, which can lead to a suicidal attempt. The latter states are discussed in more detail in our article. Neurology of emotions. Doctors treat the terms “emotional problem” and “stress” quite freely, using them without distinction to mean anxiety and depression, expressed reactions to traumatic life events, for the so-called psychosomatic diseases, and in many other cases that cannot be fully explained. For some doctors, these terms are synonymous with the so-called functional disorders, indicating that brain function is impaired in the absence of destructive damage. Our opinion on this is given in the introduction to the section on mental illness. By emotion we mean the state of the body, accompanied by certain changes in it (mainly from the internal organs controlled by the autonomic system) in combination with psychological phenomena, such as excitement or anxiety, which usually causes actions or a certain type of behavior. Examples of primary emotions are happiness, love, hate, anger and anger; gloom, anxiety and complacency apparently reflect a lesser degree of emotional stress. A strong emotion can cause a violation of intellectual functions, that is, a disorganization of thoughts and actions, and cause a change in behavior towards automatism or stereotypical acts. The term “affect” refers to external manifestations of an emotional state, such as a facial reaction. Structures that control the experience and expression of emotions,are in the limbic system. It is represented by the medial sections of the temporal, frontal and parietal lobes and their connections with the amygdala, septum, preoptic zone, hypothalamus, anterior thalamus, frenulum and lining of the central parts of the midbrain. The peripheral effector department is composed of the autonomic nervous system, internal organs, and other structures under its control.

Anxiety neurosis. Neurotic depression. Phobic neurosis

Currently, within the framework of the above main forms of neurosis, depending on the predominance of certain disorders, anxiety neurosis , neurotic depression, hypochondriac neurosis, and also phobic neurosis are distinguished . 

An anxiety neurosis usually occurs with frustration associated with chronic dissatisfaction with the official, family, sexual and other situations, especially in cases caused by intrapsychic conflicts. It is characterized by a sense of anxiety, an indefinite threat, the expectation of an unclear danger, etc. A sense of anxiety disturbs the behavior of patients: it is difficult for them to concentrate, they are easily excitable, often incapable of purposeful activity. In the period of exacerbation, somatization of disorders is possible. 

Neurotic depression more often occurs in people with orthodox thinking, in straightforward “truth-seekers” and at the same time internally vulnerable, dependent on other people who need their attention and are afraid of loneliness. 

Neurotic depression can develop as a result of the transformation of other forms of neurosis, in particular anxiety neurosis. It is characterized by a predominance of feelings of sadness, sadness, joylessness, pessimism. These manifestations are either combined with asthenic (asthenic depression), or a more pronounced affect of anxiety (anxiety depression). 

Phobic neurosis usually develops in anxious individuals who are prone to delayed affect, usually as a result of an intrapsychic conflict. Patients in certain conditions have specific fears, accompanied by anxiety, correlated with a specific object or situation. 

Phobic manifestations are diverse, but in each patient they are stereotypical: phobias associated with a state of health (carcinophobia, thanatophobia, cardiophobia, etc.), fear of transport, confined space (claustrophobia), etc.  

A characteristic feature – fears are experienced as alien, patients understand their baselessness and absurdity. There is a change in behavior in accordance with the nature of fears: avoiding physical stress, transportation, crossing streets, etc. The situation is especially aggravated if peculiar rituals are added – movements or actions performed contrary to reason to prevent possible disaster. For example, at first they put a sock on the left foot and only then on the right (hence the phrase “get up on the wrong foot”), before leaving the house, they certainly cast a spell, etc.

Hysterical depression. Hysterical Depression Clinic

Hysterical depression, a form of reactive psychosis, occurred in 22 patients. The relative rarity of the development of hysterical depression (among patients with hysterical reactive psychoses – 15.07%, in the total sample – 5.4%) is also confirmed by the data of N. E. Refsum and Ch. Astrup (1982) —7.9%. In the form of the outlined syndrome, this form of reactive psychosis preferably developed in patients with a hysteriform variant of psychopathic post-traumatic conditions. Its distinctive features were rudeness, exaggeration, elementarity and uniformity of clinical manifestations. The disorder of consciousness had a relatively “pure” psychogenic expression – there were no stunned phenomena in its structure. Depression is usually tearful. The affliction of melancholy is shallow, as a rule, is colored by traumatic irritability and does not correspond to its exaggerated pantomimic component: a pained expression on the face, wringing of hands, inconsolable tears or emphasized indifference, lethargy and helplessness. In the behavior of patients distinctly feature traits of pretentiousness, exactingness, often an aggressive attitude towards the environment. The ideas of self-accusation and the phenomenon of ideo-inhibition are not expressed. On the contrary, patients tend to blame others for everything, seek to justify themselves. Similar features were also noted by P. Faergeman (1963), N. E. Refsum and Ch. Astrup (1980). A characteristic clinical feature of hysterical depression developing on the basis of traumatic brain injury is an increased situational lability of the main mood and instability of the psychomotor background. These qualities are manifested in the tendency of patients to monotonous, acquiring the character of a stamp paroxysmally occurring rude hysterical reactions. Sometimes the excitement builds up and turns into a kind of hysterically depressive raptus with demonstrative suicidal attempts or superficial self-injuries. According to P. Faergeman (1963), N. E. Refsum and Ch. Astrup (1980), these symptoms indicate a shallow level of the course of the psychogenic reaction, indicating that only the most superficial layers of the personality are affected. As a rule, in connection with post-traumatic cerebral weakness, patients experience rapid exhaustion and such outbreaks result in short immobility, intense mutism or selective refusal to contact. Patients do not get out of bed for several days, tend to take cover with their heads in a blanket, they close their eyes when they turn to them, and pointedly do not take food. Their mood at this time is more noticeably colored by traumatic dysthymic layers, acquiring a particularly distinct irritantly vicious shade. In some cases, against this background, the statements of patients are delusional-persecutory in nature. People around are not only called the culprits of the plight of patients, but are also accused of having done it on purpose, in collusion with their ill-wishers, under the influence of the latter. Any systematization of these statements does not occur. When smoothing dysthymic disorders and increased asthenia, they quickly disintegrate, disappear or are replaced by a hypochondriacal plot. Against the background of aggravation of post-traumatic cerebral weakness (increased exhaustion, hyperesthesia, fatigue, affect lability), patients show unreasonable anxiety about their health condition, obsessively complain of headache, dizziness, get up out of bed with exaggerated labor, willingly accept the help of other patients, move around with visible effort, staggering, holding on to the wall, legs wide apart. The most caricatured form of the phenomenon of hysterical astasia – abasia is taken in patients with signs of intellectual decline in the structure of psychopathic syndromes. In some cases, a similar disorder of motility and statics is also found in the acute period of traumatic brain injury.